Napa Valley 2008

The 2008 growing season presented growers with a wide range of challenges, as the weather conditions swung wildly all year long. By the end of the year, an early and smaller-than-normal crop produced wines that range from good to very good in quality. It is a year to approach a bit cautiously as quality is variable, with the best wineries making exceptional wines and others struggling in the difficult conditions.

The year started out with wild winter storms bringing rain and damaging winds around the first of the year. Spring followed with record dry conditions and an early bud break. Frost became a major problem, taking its toll on yields in many regions, down 20-50% in some vineyards. Days were beautiful, but plunging temperatures at night plagued growers for weeks. Growers used irrigation to insulate and protect the vines and then, within a week, a severe heat spike had them doing a 180-degree turn. Just as vines were entering flowering, growers were irrigating to cool the vines in temperatures that reached triple digits. The result of the wild weather was a reduction in the number of clusters, with smaller berries and a smaller crop forecast. The dry conditions also resulted in less canopy development, but in the coming cool summer, this would not be problematic, and the smaller fruit load would have a better chance of ripening. The dry weather also minimized concerns for rot, disease, and pest issues.

The precocious spring initially had growers thinking early harvest, but summer was cool and dry, and the early gains were given back as ripening proceeded at a much slower pace. Harvest began just a little ahead of normal, with grapes for sparkling wines starting around the second week of August and whites towards the end of the month.

At the end of August, the cool summer came to a halt. A week of hot temperatures that lasted through Labor Day sent grapes into a ripening frenzy and created a rush to get harvest underway as sugars began to surge. Earlier-ripening grapes like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Merlot, whose harvest is usually spread out over several weeks, began to hit their numbers at the same time. That forced many growers to work overtime to get them in all at once, straining work crews and increasing demands on cellar space and fermentation tanks.

After the heat wave, a period of fine, dry, cool weather settled in, allowing a more leisurely pace to harvest, to the relief of vineyard and cellar workers. Grapes could be allowed to slowly ripen and develop, a big factor in the final quality of the vintage. Light rains in early October didn’t have any real impact, and growers were able to take advantage of the long hang-times and pick at optimum ripeness. While Paso Robles also had to deal with freezes in October, much of the state was singed by wildfires. Some vineyards suffered smoke damage — the smoky haze that some felt, which impacted available sunlight and ripening, just added to the extremes growers faced in 2008.

The late-season weather during harvest brought this challenging year to a better conclusion than many might have expected at the end of the summer. It was a smaller than normal crop, a bit variable in quality, but the best growers produced some excellent wines with good concentration, depth, and a cool, refined elegance.

Key Dates

March

Low temperature of 28°F recorded in Napa as frost plagues vineyards

May

High temperature of 102°F recorded in Santa Rosa as a multi-day hot spell impacts vines during critical flowering. One week earlier, growers were fighting frost

August

Heat wave arrives, ending the cool summer spell and sending grapes into a rapid ripening mode. Heat lasts through September 6th, causing a rush to get early-ripening grapes in as sugars rise rapidly

September

Heat spike ends and cool-to-normal temperatures prevail through the end of harvest, allowing longer hang-times and excellent ripening for late varietals

About Bryant Family Vineyard

Producer Facts

Winery Name

Bryant Family Vineyard

Web Site

http://www.bryantwines.com/

Ownership/Management

Don and Bettina Bryant

The origin of Bryant Family Vineyard dates to 1985 when Don Bryant purchased a 13-acre estate in Pritchard Hill. The first vintage was released in 1992, with winemaker Helen Turley, and her husband, Jon Wetlaufer, at the helm. After a tasting, Robert Parker presciently advised his readers to “be on the lookout for some of the 1,000 case production of Don Bryant's Cabernet Sauvignon.” In a flash, the fledgling winery raced to the top of the charts.

A string of 98-99 point releases, and a 100-point vintage in 1997, launched Bryant into the rarified air of cult winery status. Turley and Wetlaufer stayed on until 2001, when things went sour, ultimately ending in a lawsuit with Don Bryant. Several winemakers have come and gone in the years since, including luminaries, Philippe Melka, Ross Wallace, Mark Aubert, Helen Keplinger, and Todd Alexander.

Marc Gagnon is the newest winemaker here, on board since 2014. He is working alongside David Abreu’s team in the vineyard and Michel Rolland, as consulting winemaker. Both Rolland and Abreu have been here for more than 10 years, perhaps providing a semblance of continuity while the cast of winemakers has been in flux (the level of quality has remained pretty consistently high). On my visit, I took a walk in the vineyards with Marc. It was fascinating to see firsthand how he has delved into understanding the nuances and unique personality traits of this tiny vineyard — very impressive.

Marc brings experience working with wine superstars and superstar wineries alike. He cut his teeth under Thomas Rivers Brown and Andy Erickson, among others, and has spent time at New Zealand’s Craggy Range Vineyards, Round Pond Estate, and most recently, Screaming Eagle, where he was assistant winemaker for three years. Though he holds the hallowed terroir at Screaming Eagle in high esteem, he thinks just as much of his new site. “It’s different, to be sure,” he said, “but just as good.” With Bryant’s Bettina cuvée (and the DB4), he has the opportunity to work on an even deeper level with David Abreu, sourcing grapes for those wines from some of David’s (and Napa’s) top vineyard sites.

The estate is perched on a stunningly beautiful hillside overlooking Lake Hennessey in the Pritchard Hill area — many consider it to be one of Napa’s “Grand Cru” terroirs. The vineyard is west facing, influenced by cool breezes off the lake and sheltered from the hot, dry winds that can blow through the canyons. There have been vines planted here since the 1950s, and possibly even before, but that’s as far back as the records go. Today there are 13 acres under vine. “It is a dynamic property,” Gagnon told me, as we walked the steeply pitched hillside. The difficult terrain lends itself to very intense, hands-on management. In 2014, for instance, the harvest entailed an incredible 49 micro-picks over a period beginning on August 27th, and ending on October 5th — practically unthinkable for only 13 acres of vines. “The drought years in particular require precise selections to bring grapes in with optimal ripeness,” Marc noted, “otherwise they can get away from you pretty quickly.”

The vineyard itself is on a volcanic ridge line that ends at the site of the property and resurfaces on the other side of the lake, continuing all the way to Mount Saint Helena. The base soils are Sobrante loam series, but vary widely within the vineyard depending on the degree of slope and relative position on the ridge. When the magma that now forms the ridge was still hot, different cooling rates resulted in the formation of different soil types. The surface magma cooled more quickly, forming more friable rocks, with gas trapped inside. The deeper magma took longer to cool, resulting in soil that is harder and more basalt, andesitic, and rhyolitic in nature. These variations are reflected in the vineyard, with the north side composed of larger rocks, and the south side composed of finer, deeper soils, though still well drained. The vines on the rockier soils have very little root zone and are irrigated, others are dry farmed.

“There are several tiers to the vineyard,” Marc explained. “The bottom is flatter, then it gets pretty damn steep, flatter again, then really steep, and flatter again at the top.” Originally, the orientation of the rows was geared more towards ease of farming than for optimal ripening. David Abreu and his team changed that, replanting the core block in 1996. Further replanting took place in 1998, 2001, and 2006. The core block, located in the center of the vineyard, makes up 90-95% of the estate wine. “It is really the vineyard that dictates the wine’s style,” Marc said. “We can make a 100% Cabernet because of the variation in the terroir.” The meticulous harvest protocol, careful fermentations, and cellar selection (only about 20 barrels make the cut for the estate Cabernet) also add to the complexity of the wine, even with the single varietal makeup.

In the winery, Marc sees his role as simply guiding the wines along, trying to allow the unique nature of the site to make itself known. “I wouldn’t even be on the website if I didn’t have to,” he said, “I’d just put a picture of the vineyard.” Gotta love that approach! The winery facility is well-designed and efficient, with grapes moved by gravity flow. Fermentations take place in an assortment of stainless steel, barrel, puncheon and concrete tanks (plus the terra cotta Marc is bringing in for 2015), all designed to match the various sectors of the vineyard and the many different picks during the harvest.

There is no doubt that this is one of Napa’s top vineyard sites, and it will be interesting to see where Marc takes the wines as he settles in. Meanwhile, good luck getting your hands on a bottle! The Bryant website says they are currently adding people to the mailing list who signed up way back in 2010. For those willing to shell out some extra bucks, however, there are several listings available online.

Terroir: The vineyard is on a volcanic ridge line that ends where they are located, and resurfaces on the other side of the lake and then runs all the way to Mount Saint Helena. The base soils are Sobrante loam series, but vary widely, with the changes in the vineyard identified mostly by the degree of slope and relative position on the ridge. The magma that forms the ridge cooled at various rates, with the surface cooling quicker and forming more friable rocks with gas trapped inside. The deeper magma cooled slower and is harder and more basalt, andesitic and rhyolitic in nature. These variations result in differences in the vineyard, with the north side composed of larger rocks, the opposite side composed of finer, deeper soils, though still well drained. Those on the rockier soils have very little root zone and get irrigated, others are dry farmed.

About Cabernet Sauvignon

Cabernet Sauvignon Facts

Flavor Profile

Full, tannic wines with notes of blackcurrant and cassis

Food Pairings

Grilled red meats, stews, hard or rich cheeses

Cabernet Sauvignon has been the flagship red grape of the California wine industry for decades, and its popularity shows no sign of abating. Napa Valley is the heart of Cabernet Sauvignon production and is clearly an ideal region for creating world-class wines. If any Cabernet-based wine is capable of giving Bordeaux a run for its money, it's Napa Valley's examples. However, due to the extremely high cost of purchasing and developing vineyards in California, and the cachet of Napa Valley on the label, this has largely become a category for the well-heeled wine lover.

At their best, Napa Valley's Cabernets are characterized by fruit notes of cassis, black cherry, and licorice and sweet oak notes of chocolate, mocha, cedar, and tar. Today, most of the best wines are aged entirely or almost completely in French oak barrels, which tend to produce somewhat more refined wines than do most American barrels. (These latter barrels often introduce exotic and pungent suggestions of scotch, bourbon, tar, coconut, and dill.) But the use of expensive French oak is no guarantee of a good bottle: too many wines today, due to high crop levels or insufficiently ripe fruit, do not have the stuffing to support their oakiness and can quickly be dominated or even dried out by their wood component. The best California Cabernets mellow and soften with five to ten years of bottle aging, developing more complex and less fruit-dominated notes of tobacco, leather, and earth, with mellower wood tones. Compared to the top Bordeaux, however, many California Cabernet Sauvignons merely endure in bottle rather than truly become more interesting. There are no shortage of quality producers, even if these wines are rarely values. And it remains to be seen if today's outsized showstoppers, made from superripe grapes and undeniably impressive on release, will reward extended bottle aging or will turn out to have been best suited for drinking in their youth.

Many wines labeled Cabernet Sauvignon contain small percentages of other so-called Bordeaux varieties -- chiefly Merlot and Cabernet Franc but also Petit Verdot and even Malbec (varietally labeled wines in California must contain at least 75% of the variety named).

Cabernet Sauvignon also flourishes in Washington State, Australia and even Chile. In Washington, prices have been creeping up at the high end, with some producers aiming to compete with cult wines from the Napa Valley. Consider Chateau Ste. Michelle and Woodward Canyon. In Australia, look to the Coonawarra and Margaret River regions. Chile can reveal excellent bargains to those who know where to look: Montes makes a strong range of quality bottlings, as does Casa Lapostolle.

As Cabernet Sauvignon is bold and assertive on the palate, it pairs best with foods like grilled red meats. Taken together, the proteins and fats in the food neutralize some of the stronger tannic qualities of the wine, leading to a harmonic combination that enhances both partners.